Method and apparatus for melting material in an electric furnace



0ct.29, 1935. ER U Q '2,01s,ss3

METHOD AND APPAEATUS FOR MELTING MATERIAL IN AN ELECTRIC FURNACE Filed Nov. 2, 1935 ATTORNEYS.

. ,euasss" mirnon AND maasrus 'roi'i. ammo summer.

5 U ITED STATES- IN AN John Ferguson, Indianapolis. t Glass Works,

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Avnu auen'ivev mbe: 2. 1m. no. Y

'i' hisinvention relatesto a methodandapparatusformeliingmaterialinanelectricfin'nacein which glass or other vitreous orrefractcry sub- :stances which are conductors of electricity at hightemperaturesmaybefused. Itisparticularly for the melting of the materials-formi'ing the batch mixture for glass manufacture.

f One of the principal difiicultles with electric lfnrnaces for melting such substances at rela- ;tively high temperatures has been the necessity for frequent replacement of the refractory lining iofthefurnace. lnprocessessuchasthemanui facture of glass the deterioration of the lining is due to chemical action at the metal line, or {.line dividing molten .glass and --unmelted batch. At this point there is a rather violent theliningofthefurnaceincontactwlththe metal line and cause a very rapid disintegration E One obiect of the present invention isto .pre- 3 vent rapid deterioration of the refractory lining andgreatest chemical action at a 5' point in the furnace remote from the refraci toryliningthereof;

One feature of the invention. by which the 3 said object is-obtained resides in the confining 'oftheelectric currents throughthefurnacetoa r pluraliw of relatively narrow paths which intersect at a point remote from the periphery of-the At the point of intersection, therefore, the concentration of current is the greatest and,

tly, the heat generated adjacent there to is suiiicient to produce much higher'temperatures than in other parts of the furnace. The

contents of the'furnace around the periphery thereof is maintained at a sufliciently low tern perature to prevent active chemical action with the refractory lining and rapid deterioration thereof. when applied to a glass furnace, the temperatureat the periphery'may be sufilclently low to maintainthe glass or batch materials inan unmelted-condition. No refractory side walls, therefore, are-necessary. the solid glass i or hatch material providing-retaining means for the molten glass in the interior of the furnace.

;IEvenwhensuchasldewaliisused,thereisnov contact whatever between the refractory lining 3 and the molten glass at the metal line where the 3 most violent chemicalacticn takes place.

Another object of the invention is to preserve 5 the electrodes from the effects of .the high temperatures involved. To thisgend. the electrodes 1 placed in the cooler peripheral zone of minitrodes.

showing a preferred form thereof for furnishing mumcurrent and heat This I a featin'e of the inventionresides'in therepellant interaction'between electrically charged particlesintheseveralcin'rent pathsastheyconverge toward the center of the furnace. This interaction, particularly when associated with it the dish-shaped bottomof the-furnace sloping chemical reaction. the products of which attack fromtheouterportions-toacentralzoneof maximum depth. produces a turbulent or rotative motion to-the mass of material which promotes the homogeneity thereof. v

A further feature resides in theprovisionof a discharge orifice in the central zone of the gofthefurnacebylocalizingthenoneofgreatest fin-nace, preferably at the point of maximum depth and maintaining a maximum temperature and nuidiw of the molten material immediately above the orifice to facilitate feeding there- Other objects and features of the invention will be understood from the accompanyin drawing and the following description and claims: 8

Fig. l is a central sectional view of aglass furnace embodying the ,invention. Fig. 2 isa sectional plan viewv taken on the line 1-2 -'of Pig. 1. Fig. 3 is adiagram of the wiring connections electric current to the furnace. Fig. 4 is a diagram of an alternative form of wiring.

The glass furnace shown in the drawingsby way of illustration is substantially circular in fonn and is provided with a refractory floor ll 40 having a saucer like form depressed at thecenter. 'A'discharge opening is fitted at the center-of the floor it through which molten ma- ,terialmaybedischargedorfedinanysuitable manner'as is well known in the art, a receptacle .if being herein illustrated for its reception.

About the periphery of the fin-nace there is formed a circular trough It provided ,at intervals with wells ll lined with refractory material containing electrodes I! of anysuitable material. such as nmlten lead. Each of the wells l4 l8 surrounded by a metallic box it having electric connection with the electrode l5 byimeans of a passage ll within the refractory lining. theelec- "PATENT F CE trical connections for the current sup ly, being attached to the boxes l6. I Forillustration, the furnace may be covered by a hood IS with its lower peripheral edge imbedded i in an annular slot I! in which.there is provided a suitable sealingim ateria l 20. A hopper 2| may be positioned above thehood I 8 and connected to by a feed conduit 22. The hopper is adapted'to carry a supply 23 of the glass batch material, the flow of which is controlled through the passage 22 by means of a gate 24. Preferably, sufiicient batch is maintained in the furnace to provide a conical pile 25 above the molten glass. in furnace. If desired, the gate 24 maybe dispensed with and the batch feed accomplished as illustrated in copending application, Serial No. 697,565, filed November 11, 1933, entitled'Electric glass furnace. The hood I is provided witha conduit 21 connected to any suitable pressure regulating device by means of which the pressure within the hood may be varied to control the feed of glass through outlet II, as described and claimed in the above-mentioned co-pending application. lf desiredythe pressure control'may be such as to provide go feed rather than continuous flow, in which case the receptacle l2 illustrated herein is replaced by' the conventional shearing mechanism. v

In Fig. 3 there are shown three power mains of a three-phase alternating current supply, indicated by the numeral 28. Said power mains are delta or star connected to the primary windings of three transformers 29. Each of'the windings of the three transformers, however, is independently connected toja pair of the electrodes l5,the electrodes of each pair being posi .tioned on opposite sides 'of the furnace. The

secondary circuits are not electrically connected 'at any point exterior of the furnace, and therefore, the only currents passing through the glass are the diametrical currents passing between the two electrodes of each pair. If the secondary circuits were conductively connected outside the furnace, -there would also be currents passing between adjacent electrodes. Because of the fact that glass is an unstable resistor whose resistivity decreases as the temperature increases, the currents between the electrodes tend to follow the paths heated by said currents and are, therefore. confined to the relatively narrow paths indi cated by broken lines 30 in Fig. 2. For safety, the mid-point of one of the secondary transformer windings may be grounded as shownat Ii to maintain the central part of the furnace at zero potential and prevent accumulation of static charges thereon. Only one such ground connection may be used without destroying the desired concentration of current at the intersecting current paths;

even if such walls are supplied, the metal line or zone of violentchemical action does not extend outward sufl'iciently farto make contact therewith. v

If the furnace were constructed of uniform 'depths. 1 1 Another advantage of the intersecting diametdepth, the diiference in temperature between the central zone and the outer zone would be greater than desired for proper functioning of the glass furnace since the cross sectional area per unit of current decreases very rapidly toward the center. By constructing the furnace with a greater depth at the center, a'larger cross'section' of current path is' provided at the center so that the concentration of heat may be lessened sui'iiciently to give the desired temperature diiierence'betweenv the outer and inner zones of material. For glass manufacture, thecentral zone'shouid be maintained from 500 to 600 F. above the temperature of the peripheralv zone and this temperatune difference may be readily secured by proper pro- 1.

rical current paths lies in the attractive'and repellant interaction between the electrically. charged particles in the several current paths as they converge toward the center -of the furnace-2 This interaction produces forces tending to give a certain degree of turbulent or rotative motion to the mass of material adjacent the discharge opening. The said motion is valuable in promoting the homogeneity of ,the'niaterial discharged :1 therefrom. e I

InFig. 4 there is illustrated an alternative form of wiring in which four pairs of electrodes are used and current is supplied from a single phase instead of a three-phase power source. Inthis l diagram, the two power mains of a single phase nace may be properly operated with the same concentration of current and heat at the center of the furnace.

It is obvious that as many diametrical current 1 paths as required may be furnished by the use of additional transformers and electrodes. For smaller furnaces only two such current paths may be required and these may be supplied from a single phase source as just described, or from a two-phase source if desired. For the-heating'of materials where no undesirable electrolytic action is possible, direct current may be used but the direct current circuits must be isolated outside of the furnace in the same manner as the alternating circuits herein described. -Because of the relative ease of isolating alternating currents by means of transformer connections, the alternating currents are preferable.

While the invention hasbeen specifically described, by way of example, as applied to a glass furnace, such description is not to be taken as limiting the invention thereto nor to the details herein shown. Many modifications thereof within the scope of the appended claims will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. For example, the character of the turbulent motion of the material-may be modified by using currents of different frequencies in the various paths, by using alternating currents in certain'paths and ct current in others, or by variations in the .rity of the'currents either with director allating currents. he invention claimed is:

In' combination, an electric furnace, means passing a' plurality of independent electric rents through the contents thereof, said curis being substantially confined to diametrical as, and the depth of said furnace adjacent the rrsection of said current paths being, greater :1 that at the periphery thereof. In combination, an electric furnace, means passing a plurality of independent electric rents through the contents thereof, said curis being substantially confined to diametrlcal hs, and the depth of said furnace increasin gressively from the periphery toward the ter thereof. An electric glass melting and refining furfor receiving batch material to be melted rein, including a shallow dish-shaped hearth ring a'centrai discharge opening, said hearth ping from an outer zone of minimum depth a central zone pf greater depth adJacent said charge opening. and means for a rality of independent electric currents through 2 contents of said furnace, said currents beins istantially confined to diametrical paths interting in the deeper portion of said furnace adent said disch r e opening. i. An electric glass melting and refining furce for receiving batch material to bermelte'd zreinincluding a refractory hearth floor, a-

lrallty of spaced electrodes positioned inwardly am the outer edge of said floor and in electric contact with molten glass therein, means for a passing electric currents between said electrodes through the material on said floor, and means for feeding batch material into said furnace so as to embrace the peripheral portion of the molten 5 glass by contacting and resting upon the outer, portion of the hearth floor, whereby the molten glass will be completely retained by the hearth floor and the surrounding batch material.

5. An electric glass melting and refining furl0 nace for receiving batch material to be melted therein, having a dish-shaped bottom sloping from an outer peripheral portion of minimum depth to a central zone of greater depth, a discharge orifice in the central zone-of the furnace '15 bottom, a plurality of spaced electrodes about the outer peripheral portion in direct contact with the molten glass, a source of energy connected with said electrodes causing an electric current to pass through the molten glass. and means for 20 feeding the batch material onto the upper surface of the molten glass so as to cover the surface thereof and embrace the peripheral portion of the molten glass by contacting and resting upon the outer portion of the furnace floor whereby the 25 molten glass will be completely enveloped by the furnace floor and the superposed batch material.

6; A method of melting and refining glass consisting in supporting molten glass in a thinlayer upon a dish-shaped furnace floor, causing an so electric current to pass transversely through the glass, and entirely surrounding the exposed surface of the molten glass with glass making batch JOHN FERGUSON. 86 

